Watched Rogue One, can't say I was a fan. The set up takes awhile, gathering up characters I never really cared for, pairings that didn't work bar Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus, alright humour from likes of K-2SO but always a feeling the joke should be better and is a bit too easy to read coming. Some nice nods but writing could be clumsy in the big moments, some major characters I really didn't care for (particularly Gerrera with Forest Whitaker's weird performance) and the choice of leader for the group didn't make sense within the film.

I more enjoyed the second half, good action, the well done villains of Orson Krennic and the impressive work on Moff Tarkin (there are moments where the special effects seep through but it is amazing how well it mostly pulls it off) help. It pulls off some important moments by underplaying it and when it does that, the moments click whereas when they go big it feels clunky and some logic questions emerge.

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

I've now seen The Last Jedi. I really enjoyed it however I don't think it'll be a classic.

There were less self-referential moments in this one so when it did happen it had more clout!

When the Falcon arrived to shot the TIE fights off of Poe's back like against the first Death Star. Also did anyone other than me think the last scene was like the first one in Empire Strikes Back? Stuck on a snow planet having been found by the Empire so the rebels fighting to escape!

The film continued the trend of using a lot of humour. Two moments made me laugh embarrassingly loudly.

When Luke brushes his shoulder after surviving the laser attacks and when Ren smashes Hux to one side for disagreeing with him and the pilot says instantly 'Yes sir'.

The scenery and new worlds are stunning but we still get very little political context, basically an extreme reaction to the prequel trilogy.

Good points

-I liked what they did with Poe, I felt that his character grew as the movie went on.

-I'm so glad that the rumours Luke had fallen to the dark side where wrong. The way that they showed this once idealistic young man corrupted by cynicism I thought was really powerful. His story line worked well.

-They've done a solid job of saying goodbye to the old guard and shoving the new guys to the forefront, however that did give this movie a transitional feel. As if it's main purpose was to set up the next one rather than as a stand alone story in its own right.

-The budding romance between Finn and the Rose(?) felt more natural than the one with him and Rae.

-BB8, Leia and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo were all great.

Bad Points

-Killing Snoke??? Kylo Ren doesn't have the same fear factor for me as Snoke. He is a temperamental child, Snoke felt like a true Sith Lord. You see Ren's weaknesses when he turns all his fire power on Luke and then on the Falcon. You wouldn't have seen Darth Vader behave like that.

- Again the movie felt so fast paced, I need to see it again to properly take it in.

- As much as I liked the relationship between Finn and Rose their plot just felt absurd once they got to the casino, the whole time factor thing didn't work for me to be honest.

-Phasma? What is the point in her existence? She has been so badly used!

Overall enjoyed it, solid addition but not spectacular.

Interested in the history behind the novel? Find a list of english language Three Kingdom sources here.

I saw Last Jedi last night and mostly enjoyed it. As a casual, it was a lot of fun, but some of the poor storytelling drags the movie down from reaching its maximum epicness.

The Good

So many iconic and awesome scenes. Whether it was the Falcon racing through the underground of the salt planet, or Kylo Ren and Rey squaring off against each other or their opposition, or most of the scenes with Luke, or some of those space dogfights, when things clicked, they really clicked so that even I, very much a casual viewer, was like yeah that was pretty damn cool. These sorts of scenes are littered throughout the film and really kept it alive.

Also, Mark Hamill's acting. I don't care how much he has complained about Luke's direction, I 1) LOVED THE ARC and 2) thought Hamill did an amazing job portraying that internal conflict.

I was happy to see Finn show me I still cared about him after flopping around through the first 2/3rds of the film, and Poe get fleshed out better as a talented but fallible hot-shot.

Great, great soundtrack. Good blend of old and new with special effects.

The Bad

But in between those iconic scenes were a bunch of lackluster ones. I'm firmly in the "Finn/Rose side story stank" camp, all that stuff just detracted from what I felt should have been a tense situation aboard the cruiser. For me, it's a classic case of the "and then XX hours later, another thing happens" bad storytelling that pulls me right out of the action.

I also feel like they could have snipped roughly the last half hour and have that be the first 30 minutes of the next film. After the intensity of the showdown in Snoke's room, I was emotionally exhausted and didn't really perk up until the Falcon appeared.

The Ugly

Killing Snoke. But it's not because I think they killed him off too early. It's clear they're building to an epic showdown between Kylo and Rey down the road and want us on the edge of our seats for that, hoping Rey will win but Kylo will look strong in defeat.

And therein lies the problem. Because they only dropped one subtle hint to allude to Kylo growing into his big bad role. And that was hiding his true intentions from Snoke's mind probing.

After that, what did we get? Rey has to save Kylo from an OP mook (I get exactly why they did this but it still detracts from demonstrating Kylo's growing power). Kylo then turns into a raging butt-monkey who can't keep his focus and wants to blast everything into smithereens. And lastly, since he only fights Luke's hologram, he can't even express his true strength through taking out a Jedi legend. Going into the next film, Kylo will still be a clear threat, but he lacks any sort of intimidating presence.

So Snoke's death goes to ugly waste.

Also! How did everyone on Snoke's ship manage to survive after it got light speed torpedoed? The thing got bisected but everyone is still able to breathe and so on. Hell, Finn and Rose are standing on a dock overlooking the vastness of space, trying to board a ship to escape. I guess there is some space tech I'm overlooking here, but it kind of pulled me out of an otherwise intense scene just a bit too much.

Just saw "The Last Jedi" as well and thought it was a pretty good, entertaining movie despite some issues I thought could have been handled better.I've been a fan of the franchise since I was a kid, but I'm much more casual than some of the diehards out there.Anyways, here's a few opinions I had~

Good parts

Visually fantastic. The main action sequences were fun to watch and I thought they did a pretty good job using the star ships, tech and weapons from the original trilogy and making them flashier and more ominous.

The acting by Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo) were two of the brighter spots among mostly unmemorable performances.I was impressed with Daisy in Awakens, and even more so after this one.

I agree with Zyzyfer that Mark Hamill did a fine job. I didn't like the way he suddenly switched from a surly, bitter old man to a wise, helpful, Obiwan-esque version I wanted to see to begin with. I think he regrets criticizing the movie, but I have to wonder if still actually still believes what he said.But he made the movie better just being a part of it.

Snoke and his red armored guardsmen: Even though I kept being reminded of Gollum watching Snoke, his scenes were probably my favorite. Just a nasty and highly dangerous villain. His council room guards were pretty badass as well

Nice to see R2D2, Chewie, C3PO as I remember them, even if they were under utilized. No Jar Jar, ty.

The soundtrack I thought was excellent.

Of all the new creatures introduced, I thought those tinsel haired foxes were probably my favorite.

Not so good parts

Campy dialogue and sophomoric humor. I know it's Disney and even the originals had its share, but the writing needs to be better. Some of the conversations bordered on absurd.

Luke and Leia. My biggest disappointments overall. Luke is the strongest Jedi of all time and deserved a much better send off. And what happened to the spunky, go-get-em princess we used to know? She's just chilling in a cave while her brother is out facing off against the entire 1st orders attack force.And her reaction when he's gone? "Yeah, I felt it too" Just a little emotion would have been nice.(RIP Carrie Fisher)

I understand they want to move out the "old guard" for the "new guard". I just wished they would handle this with more care.

The uneven storytelling and side plots that have been well articulated in earlier posts. I personally liked Rose, and Finn is a decent character but way too much time spent with their little side adventure.

Rehashed and redone: Lack of originality has plagued both of the new Star Wars. Hot shot pilot goes against his superiors commands and tries to save the day. Wow, haven't seen that before. Rebels last stand on an Ice planet, bumbling stormtroopers that can't aim for shit, putting on the enemy's uniforms to move around the ship, sassy young Jedi that won't take no for an answer, etc.Although there is some unexpected turns, it needs some fresh ideas I think.

I thought the transition from surly butthole to hesitant teacher suited Luke's story in Last Jedi. His whole thing is that he tried to do the right thing with Ben Solo and the other students, and ended up training someone who got lured to the dark side. It was pretty clear to me that he wanted *nothing* to do with Jedis and saving the world and so on. He went to his island and sank his X Wing so he would be completely cut off from the world. Then along comes this newbie Rey, full of optimism, and he can't shake his past failure. Just because she came knocking on his door, it doesn't mean anything to him.

And then his point is basically proven (in his mind) when Rey immediately is drawn to the dark side herself. It's not worth it to him to train Jedi, because that potential for evil is always going to be a part of the process, as he knows first-hand.

I will say that it was kind of weird that he freaked out after Rey's first lesson, but eventually proceeded on to the other two without any real explanation. But I felt like this was relatively minor, or I might have missed or overlooked something in a scene.

Rose

I guess I should clarify, I liked her character. Kind of hammy and cheesy at times, but she brought some depth to things as another strong female character. I just couldn't stand the entirety of the "disable the Macguffin tracking device" plot, it was all far too convoluted and drawn out when we're supposed to be feeling the suspense on the cruiser. That whole story arc just felt like it came straight out of some video game.

I thought the transition from surly butthole to hesitant teacher suited Luke's story in Last Jedi. His whole thing is that he tried to do the right thing with Ben Solo and the other students, and ended up training someone who got lured to the dark side. It was pretty clear to me that he wanted *nothing* to do with Jedis and saving the world and so on. He went to his island and sank his X Wing so he would be completely cut off from the world. Then along comes this newbie Rey, full of optimism, and he can't shake his past failure. Just because she came knocking on his door, it doesn't mean anything to him.

And then his point is basically proven (in his mind) when Rey immediately is drawn to the dark side herself. It's not worth it to him to train Jedi, because that potential for evil is always going to be a part of the process, as he knows first-hand.

I will say that it was kind of weird that he freaked out after Rey's first lesson, but eventually proceeded on to the other two without any real explanation. But I felt like this was relatively minor, or I might have missed or overlooked something in a scene.

Rose

I guess I should clarify, I liked her character. Kind of hammy and cheesy at times, but she brought some depth to things as another strong female character. I just couldn't stand the entirety of the "disable the Macguffin tracking device" plot, it was all far too convoluted and drawn out when we're supposed to be feeling the suspense on the cruiser. That whole story arc just felt like it came straight out of some video game.

Luke's Characterization

All fair points Zyzyfer, I understand where you're coming from. I suppose my expectations heavily influenced my feelings of his portrayal. When Rey first arrived, a fresh faced and smiling young lady seeking guidance and trying to hand him the lightsaber, his reaction is to not say a word and casually chuck it off a cliff. That set the tone for me I guess.

If in his mind he failed Ben, when Ben was corrupted by the dark side, is the best course of action to cut yourself off and become a recluse? That is the time Luke's strength is needed most I would have thought(imo) Obi-wan didn't dip out after Anakin flipped.

Skywalker is an icon to the Star Wars franchise second only to Vader. I had hoped for more from him, but I guess I can understand the way things went as they did.

Some of the more angry fans out there (30k+) have petitioned to strike the film from canon due to his portrayal. Not just from past films but all the Star Wars novels out there that are now out of sync.I'm nowhere near that level of course haha, but I just wished for a more impressive send off.

Anyways, it's still pretty fresh in my head. Maybe after mulling it over for a few days I might feel differently

I agree with everything you said Zyzyfer! I'm going to see it again next week so am looking forward to seeing how a second viewing impacts my opinions. In case you can't tell, other than the 3K, Star wars is the fandom I'm most invested in.

Interested in the history behind the novel? Find a list of english language Three Kingdom sources here.